Comparison

ScoreStory or Microsoft Forms: which suits your measurement?

Microsoft Forms comes with Microsoft 365, and for many organisations it is the first choice for a quick poll or an internal survey. ScoreStory does something different: one score, such as the eNPS, followed by a conversation about the reasons. Here is how they differ.

What we say about Microsoft Forms was checked against the vendor's own pages in October 2026. Sources and corrections

What each one is for

Microsoft Forms

Microsoft Forms is the survey tool in Microsoft 365. You use it for surveys, polls and quizzes, send them through Outlook, Teams, a link or a QR code, and read the results in a summary or a linked Excel workbook. There is a built-in NPS question, and with a Copilot licence, AI helps draft a form and summarise the responses. For more extensive research, Microsoft points to Dynamics 365 Customer Voice.

ScoreStory

ScoreStory asks one question, an eNPS, NPS, CSAT or CES score, and then holds a conversation about the answer. Vox, the AI interviewer, asks for reasons and examples. The answers are sorted into themes and sentiment automatically, with a short conclusion and the quotes behind it. In an anonymous survey, ScoreStory stores no names.

ScoreStory and Microsoft Forms side by side

ScoreStory and Microsoft Forms point by point, based on each vendor's own documentation (October 2026)
Aspect ScoreStory Microsoft Forms
What it is for One score (NPS, eNPS, CSAT or CES) and a conversation about the reason behind it. Surveys, polls and quizzes, as part of Microsoft 365.
Question types and logic Partly. One score question, participant attributes and one closing question of your own. No question logic. Yes. Choice, text, rating, date, ranking, Likert, NPS and file upload, with branching to later questions.
NPS and eNPS Yes. NPS, eNPS, CSAT and CES as metrics, with the score and its trend in your results. Yes. A built-in Net Promoter Score question type.
Follow-up on the answer Yes. The AI interviewer asks every participant for reasons and examples. Not documented. Copilot's follow-up questions are for the form's creator, not the participant.
Analysis of open answers Yes. Themes, sentiment, a short conclusion, and questions you can ask about your results. Partly. A summary per question. With a Copilot licence, a summary of key findings and questions you can ask about the responses.
Spoken answers Yes. Participants type or speak their answer; speech is converted to text. No. No audio question in the list of question types.
Anonymity Yes. An anonymous mode: no names stored with the conversations, the link to the invitation deleted, and no results for groups under 5. Partly. Within your organisation you can switch off recording names. Protection for small groups is not documented.
Inviting people Yes. Personal and public links, QR code, website pop-up, mailings from your own domain with reminders, import and API. Yes. Link, QR code, embedding, and invitations through Outlook or Teams.
Results by group Yes. Filter by attributes such as department or location, and share a view with only one team's results. Partly. A summary per question and a live-linked Excel workbook for your own analysis.
Where the data is Partly. Application and stored data in the Netherlands. The language model runs at Anthropic in the US. Yes. For an EU tenant, stored in the EU or EFTA. Forms is covered by the EU Data Boundary.
Price Per participant per month. Your first 10 interviews are free. Included in Microsoft 365, per user. Copilot is a paid add-on.

Where your data is

Microsoft says Forms data for a tenant whose default location is in the EU or EFTA is stored in that region, and that Forms is fully compliant with the EU Data Boundary. At the same time, Microsoft lists Forms among the services without a specific data residency commitment, unless the Product Terms say otherwise. For Copilot, processing may take place outside the EU Data Boundary at times of high demand, if the tenant allows it. Microsoft is a US company.

ScoreStory runs on its own infrastructure at Leaseweb in the Netherlands, on every plan. The language model that holds and analyses the conversation is Anthropic's, in the US, so the conversation text leaves the EEA for that step, under the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. For that step, then, Microsoft Forms on an EU tenant keeps the data closer to home. See our privacy page.

What it costs

Microsoft Forms comes with the Microsoft 365 business plans. On 22 October 2026, Microsoft's Dutch pricing page listed Business Basic at €6.07 per user per month on an annual contract, excl. VAT. Copilot is an add-on at €18.20 per user per month, with a temporary promotional price. If you already have Microsoft 365, Forms costs you nothing extra.

ScoreStory charges per participant, not per employee: anyone who takes part and gives at least one answer counts. An organisation of 150 employees that measures twice a year fits in Plus on an annual contract: €1,250 a year excl. VAT, with 600 participants a year. Your first 10 interviews are free. See pricing.

When to choose which

Microsoft Forms is the better choice if you

  • want a quick poll, registration or quiz within your organisation;
  • already have Microsoft 365 and want no extra supplier or cost;
  • mostly ask closed questions and work with the answers in Excel;
  • want to invite people through Teams or Outlook, signed in to your own tenant;
  • want your data to stay within Microsoft's EU Data Boundary.

ScoreStory is the better fit if you

  • measure an eNPS or NPS and want to know what lies behind it;
  • want someone to follow up, rather than hoping for a filled-in text field;
  • want open answers sorted for you, without a Copilot licence per user;
  • want an anonymous survey in which small groups can't be singled out;
  • also want to invite customers, from your own domain and in your own branding.

Switching, or using both

Keep Forms for internal polls and registrations. Move the measurement to ScoreStory where you want to hear the reason behind a score, such as the eNPS, or the NPS after a project.

How to start

  • Choose eNPS or NPS as the metric and keep the same question wording, so your score stays comparable.
  • Make an employee survey anonymous before you invite anyone. After the first participant, that choice is locked.
  • Import employees or customers as a CSV or Excel file, with attributes such as department or location.
  • Share a public link in Teams or on your intranet, or send a mailing with reminders.

Your old responses stay in your Excel workbook. ScoreStory doesn't import them.

Read conversational survey or traditional survey, or see the product page.

Frequently asked questions

Microsoft Forms has an NPS question. So why ScoreStory?

The NPS question in Forms records the score. Whatever you want to know next, why someone gives a 6 and what would have made it a 9, you have to collect with extra questions and read yourself. ScoreStory follows up on that with every participant and sorts all the answers into themes and sentiment, with the quotes behind them.

Is an eNPS poll in Microsoft Forms anonymous?

Within your organisation you can set Forms not to record names. A minimum group size, which stops you looking at the answers of a two-person team on their own, is not described in Microsoft's documentation. In an anonymous ScoreStory survey, no names are stored and you see no results for groups smaller than 5.

Where does the data stay if we use Copilot?

Microsoft says Forms data for an EU tenant is stored in the EU or EFTA and is covered by the EU Data Boundary. For Copilot, Microsoft notes that at times of high demand processing may take place outside the EU Data Boundary, if the tenant allows it. Check Microsoft's documentation for your organisation's situation.

All comparisons

Sources

Everything this page says about Microsoft Forms comes from the vendor's own public pages, checked on 22 October 2026. Prices and features change, so check the current situation there before you decide.

What we say about ScoreStory itself is on these pages of ours: Product, Pricing, Privacy.

Spotted something that is out of date or wrong? Email welcome@scorestory.eu and we will check it and correct the page.

Product names belong to their respective owners. ScoreStory is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of the products compared here.

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